Alabama had to do some self-reflecting prior to facing Missouri at home on Tuesday night.
The Crimson Tide entered the game coming off two straight losses on its home floor, sandwiched between a pair of road wins. At just 3-3 in SEC play, a .500 record in conference was far from what the expectations are now for this program.
Because Nate Oats has won at a level that many didn't think was possible for Alabama basketball. And expectations for the fans, players, and coaching staff are higher than the results that have been produced.
"We were 3-3. Nobody signed up to play here to be .500 in SEC play. That’s not who we are. That’s not the program they walked into," Oats said. ..."Everybody needed a wake-up call, including myself. However we were doing it, it wasn’t working. So, we spent a lot more time on our preparation, a lot more mandatory. We got to get in here and study film. We needed to earn the win before the game started. I don’t feel like we’ve been doing that in the past.
"Tonight, we earned this win before the game started."
Nate Oats said Alabama earned the win over Missouri before the game even started
You could tell the tone for this game was set by how the assistant coaches were dressed. Oats always wears a plaid jacket, but his assistants have typically worn Alabama polos on the bench. On Tuesday night, they were all clad in suits.
It was a more business-like approach from the top down for the Crimson Tide. And it clearly worked.
Alabama rolled to a 90-64 win over Missouri, effectively bouncing back from a rough patch and playing its most complete game in quite some time. Even in recent wins over Mississippi State and Oklahoma, the Crimson Tide had to shake off rough starts to the games to pull out wins.
Against Missouri, Alabama got off to a good start and maintained it for a full 40-minutes en route to a 26-point win.
Now, Alabama will look to carry over this momentum, preparation, and business-like approach as it travels to Gainesville on Sunday to face Florida. Thanks to Todd Golden's comments, motivation won't be a problem.